Ghost
by malic124
Summary: Someone from Brendan Hopkins's past comes into the lives of the band saying he needs Brendan's help. Along the way, secrets are revealed about Brendan's friend that nobody in the band, apart from Brendan, could see coming.
1. Reappearance

The band quickly faded their music into silence. Once they were all done, Nat said, "Thank you!"

They were performing a surprise concert in Manhattan, which was sold out in two minutes. They had just finished playing _Catch Up With the End_ and were prepping their instruments for their next song. Nat walked up to a microphone, where his guitar sat waiting for him. After tuning his guitar, Nat spoke to the audience.

"You still with me out there, Manhattan?" he shouted into the microphone.

The audience screamed loudly and Alex played a little rhythm on his drums.

"Hahaha," Nat said when the audience had quieted down. "That's what I thought. All right, I wanna play another older song that's a cover. We've got a special guest singing this one with us for the first time in a while. Hope you like it."

With that, Nat started playing the opening guitar parts to _Broken_, originally written by Seether. The audience recognized the first notes immediately and knew the special guest was Brendan, the band's primary bodyguard.

"I wanted you to know," Nat sang, "that I love the way you laugh. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain, away. I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well. I wanna hold you high and steal your pain."

As Nat sang the first chorus, Brendan appeared to his left, walking onto the stage with a microphone in hand. Brendan sang the chorus with Nat, while the audience cheered for Brendan, who waved as he walked across to the stage to stand with Nat.

"Because I'm broken," they sang together, "When I'm lonesome. And I don't feel right. When you're gone away."

When their first duet had finished Brendan moved faster to stand center stage with Nat, who continued playing his guitar parts and sang the next verse alone.

"You've gone away, you don't feel me here, anymore."

The band then transitioned into Brendan's solo. As he sang, Brendan stepped forward so the audience could see him. A split second before he sang his solo, he heard someone shout out, "Go Brendan!" He nearly hesitated when he heard the shout; he recognized the voice. Ignoring it, Brendan started on his solo.

"The worst is over now, and we can breathe again. I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain," together, he and Nat sang, "Away," before Brendan continued on his own. "There's so much left to learn," he sang before Nat broke in with him and they sang, "And no one left to fight," before Brendan finished his solo. "I wanna hold you high and steal your pain."

Together, they sang the chorus of the song. "Cause I'm broken, when I'm open. And I don't feel like I am strong enough. Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome and I don't feel right, when you're gone away,"

Brendan carried the final note into the bridge of the song, where Qaasim led on a guitar solo. Once the bridge was over, Nat and Brendan sang a shortened version of the chorus, nearly screaming the lyrics.

"Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome! And I don't feel right, when you're gone away."

The music rapidly slowed and quieted.

"You've gone away," Nat sang.

"Away," Brendan echoed.

"You don't feel me here, anymore," finished Nat as the song ended. When they quieted the music, the audience screamed in cheers for them. Brendan and Nat high fived before Brendan turned and left the stage, waving and smiling at the fans as he walked.

"Give it up for Brendan Hopkins!" Nat shouted into his microphone while the band prepared for their next song. The audience cheered again and Brendan blew a kiss at them before he turned and went backstage. He was escorted back to the dressing rooms by Tuffy. Once there, Cooper, Jesse and Sonny greeted him, who were all waiting backstage for the band to finish. They were watching the concert on a television in the dressing room.

"Hey, nice job out there, Brendan!" Jesse exclaimed, while Cooper handed Brendan a water bottle.

"Thanks, Jesse," Brendan said, nodding at Cooper in thanks. "It's always fun getting up on stage like that, but I wouldn't want to do it all the time like they do."

"Were you nervous?" asked Sonny.

"Nah, it's a lot of fun to do it. I mean, once I'm on-stage, I feel fine cause I see the rest of the band and I know that if I screw up, they can fix it pretty well."

They all laughed before Brendan continued. "So, how many songs we got left?"

"Two," said Cooper. "We got _Crazy Car_ right now and then an encore performance of _If That's Not Love_."

"Sweet, shouldn't take too long then. How many people we got coming backstage tonight?"

"About a dozen. Actually, Brendan, I wanted to ask you about that," Cooper said as they heard the opening music to _Crazy Car_ playing on the TV.

"Well, it's going to be same-old, same-old, isn't it?" Brendan said. "I'll be with them to make sure things don't get too out of hand and the rest of security will be on standby with the earpieces. I thought we had everything under control?"

"Yeah, yeah, we do," said Cooper. "It's just that I think one of the people coming backstage knows you. I got a call from the person in charge of handling people coming backstage and they told me that someone coming tonight wanted to speak with you about something. They didn't give a name, but they said it was important."

Brendan frowned. The voice of the person who shouted at him before he started his solo, could it be who he thought it was? Surely not, he thought. That person is meant to be in hiding. Still, he couldn't help thinking about the possibility that the voice belonged to the person he thought it did.

"I'll see what's up when we do backstage stuff," Brendan said as the band finished playing on the TV. They immediately started playing their final song, getting another loud cheer from the audience.

Brendan sat in silence as he watched the band playing _If That's Not Love_. If it was who he thought it was who had shouted to him, it could only mean one thing. However, he decided not to dwell on it, as he still had a job to do with handling backstage guests.

About five minutes later, the band had finished their concert and returned to the dressing rooms. They all convened in the room where Brendan and the rest were sitting.

"Hey, great show, guys!" Sonny exclaimed as the band walked in.

"Thanks, Dad," Alex yelled back, grabbing himself a carton of milk and drinking a little bit.

Nat walked over to Brendan who was clapping for the band with the rest of them.

"You okay?" he asked as he took a water bottle Cooper offered him.

"Yeah, why?" Brendan replied.

"It's just that you were a little bit late coming in during _Broken_ on your solo. For a second, I was a little worried."

Brendan grinned. "Oh, it's nothing. I just thought I heard a voice I knew from a couple years back cheering for me right before I started in. But I don't see how it could be him."

"Who's that?" asked Nat.

"An old friend. But, maybe I was just hearing things. Anyway," he said, standing up. "Shall we go handle the backstage guests?"

"Yeah, they should be ready by now," Cooper said. "All right guys, you know the drill. We'll get 15 minutes with the guests to sign autographs and take photos. Once we're done, it's back in here to change and get ready to head back to Nat and Alex's house for a little party."

The band cheered when they heard "party." When they finished, Cooper led them from the room and to the area where the backstage audience members were waiting. There were about a dozen of them waiting for them. When the saw they band, the backstage kids started cheering and clambered toward the band, but were held back by Tuffy.

Brendan stepped in front of the band when they were close enough to the guests and spoke to them.

"All right, thank you all for coming backstage to greet the band," he said. "As you probably know, I'm Brendan Hopkins, the band's head of security and bodyguard. You guys have 15 minutes to take photos with the band and get autographs. You can also chat, if you want. After that, we will stop this greeting and go back to the dressing rooms, as we have something else going on tonight. So, a few rules: Don't stampede at the band, don't grab onto any of them, no screaming, no hair pulling. Just behave yourselves and we won't have a problem. I will let you all know that the band's entire security team is here and are listening into earpieces as I speak and will be here in a seconds if I ask them to. Again, thanks for coming backstage, and I'll let you see the band now."

The backstage guests rushed forward to greet the band. Within seconds, cameras were flashing and the band was being bombarded with requests for autographs on T-shirts, CDs and random bits of paper.

When Brendan called out the five-minute warning, Nat shouted out to him.

"Hey Brendan, come over here. This guy says he knows you and wants to talk to you."

Brendan hesitated. Was he about to find out if he was hearing things? Ignoring his worries, Brendan walked over to where Nat was standing. A boy about their age was standing with him and Alex, chatting animatedly. The boy was a little shorter than Nat, had dirty blonde hair with blue eyes and was wearing glasses. When Brendan reached them, Nat motioned for the boy to turn around. When he did, Brendan let out a gasp of shock.

"Jack!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"


	2. Secrets Revealed

Brendan sat in the back of the band's bus with Nat and Alex and the boy called Jack. The rest of the band was sitting in the main area of the bus, making enough noise that Brendan and the rest of them were unlikely to be overheard as they talked.

"So Brendan, who is your friend Jack?" Nat asked.

"Well…" Brendan said, hesitating. He looked at Jack with a questioning expression on his face. Jack nodded at him.

"It's all right, Brendan. You can tell them. It's about to become public record, anyway."

"What is?" asked Nat.

"The reason Jack has been in hiding for three years," Brendan replied. "He's been presumed dead ever since an assassination attempt on his life."

"What!?" exclaimed Nat and Alex together.

Brendan nodded. "It happened right before we started filming the first season of the show. Jack and I were spending some time together before filming began, since we know I'd be busy filming the show with you guys. It was about a week before production started on season one when he came across a dead body in Central Park."

Nat and Alex looked dumbfounded. Brendan prowled on with his explanation, noticing the look of shock etched on his friends' faces.

"Naturally, he called the police and the Homicide Unit came and investigated the crime. About three days later, they made an arrest. It turns out the person whose body we found was an undercover police officer investigating a big crime organization. While the prosecutor on the case made his case, several threats were made against Jack, since he was supposed to testify about the body he found. There were several threats against the police and even the District Attorney's office, but they were unfounded. Still, the night before Jack was due to testify in court, we had dinner together. That was midway through filming. And that's when it happened."

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"We were leaving the restaurant when a car approached us from behind. We were with a detective from the Homicide Unit, who was walking with us. None of us saw the car. Before we knew it, shots were fired. Three. The detective ordered us to get down, and that's what I did. After the shots were fired, the detective pulled her gun out and ran after the car. I turned around to check on Jack and that's when I realized he had been hit."

"I was hit by the first bullet shot," Jack explained. "It was enough for me to fall to the ground, so that's what I did when the other shots were fired."

"I crawled over to him, trying to get his attention, but Jack was frozen in shock, you see. I put pressure on his wound and yelled for someone to call an ambulance fast. The detective came running back; the car had gotten away. The paramedics arrived a few minutes later and took Jack to the hospital, with me and the detective riding behind them. When we got there, they wouldn't let us in to see Jack. An hour later, a nurse came out and told us he had died."

"Obviously, that wasn't true," Jack said.

Brendan nodded. "Two days later, I got a call from the Homicide Unit that they were coming to pick me up at my house. Someone was requesting a meeting with them, and they wanted me to come along. So, the detective I was with, Detective Olivia Smith arrived with her partner, Chase Owens, and they took me to a remote location and that's when I learned the truth."

"I wasn't truly dead, but I was officially," explained Jack. "I told them that I needed to see them before I went into hiding because until the police made connections between my would-be killer and the crime organization, I wasn't safe. So I left New York and moved to Wisconsin, where I've been in the Witness Protecting Program for three years. I lived under an assumed name with my aunt and uncle. My Mom occasionally visits, but I haven't seen any other family or friends since I was presumed dead."

"Wow," Nat whispered. "So that's why you were so down during the second half of filming, Brendan?"

Brendan nodded. "I couldn't tell any of you the real reason, so I just made it look like I was okay, but you guys could see right through that, which is why I had to tell you that I was having family troubles. Course, had that happened a year later, it would have been true, with the whole Bobby affair."

Nat and Alex nodded. They, too, could remember Brendan's older brother, Bobby, who had sworn revenge on their parents after they gave him up for adoption and refused to let him back into their life.

"So, Jack, how did you know Brendan would be with us?" Alex asked.

"I've watched your show since it premiered, so I knew that if I ever came back, he'd be with you guys. I knew how much he cared about you and how badly he would want to protect you, especially after what happened to me."

"Well, you can count on me doing the same for you now that you're back," Brendan said. "Speaking of which, why are you back? You said you needed my help with something."

Jack nodded. "I need you to do what you do for these guys," he said, gesturing at Nat and Alex. "A couple of days ago, Captain Merino and the FBI Agent in charge of my case came to my home in Wisconsin and told me they had found the man who had shot me."

"Who is it, Jack?" asked Brendan.

"John Calvert. Apparently he was a hired gunman for the gang, and was paid by their leader to kill me. After he supposedly succeeded, he left the gang and started his own. After the police took down the first one, they went after his and connected a gun used in a murder by them to being the same one used to shoot me. They managed to take down Calvert and most of his gang, but there are some stragglers out there, which makes my coming back a problem."

"Why did you come back? Just because they got him?"

"No, they need me to testify to Calvert shooting me," Jack said. "Unfortunately, the detectives committed perjury because they told the court that I had been killed, since Calvert was being charged with my murder. Since I'm not dead, that puts the case in jeopardy, unless I can testify. The problem is that some of Calvert's old cronies are bound to come after me once word gets out that I'm back, and it's bound to sooner or later. That's why I need you, Brendan, I need you to be my bodyguard, in case any of them come after me."

"Won't that put Brendan in danger?" asked Nat.

"Probably not. The police think that Calvert's men will only want to physically hurt me; they won't be aiming to kill me if they find me. Calvert will have ordered them to cause me as much pain as possible without killing me, in order to convince me not to testify. Brendan," Jack said, turning to his old friend. "Can you help protect me?"

"I've still got it," Brendan replied, grinning. "If I can take care of these guys, I can certainly make sure no harm comes to you, too."

At that moment, Cooper popped his head into the room. They hadn't notice the bus stop moving.

"Hey guys, we're here," said Cooper.

"We'll be right out, Cooper," Nat replied. Cooper nodded and turned back around.

"Nat, Alex," Brendan said. "You guys are my best friends, so I know I can trust you. I want you guys to keep this between us, at least for now, okay? We can trust the others, but I still don't want too many people to know about this, at least not until Jack is ready for more people to know. Okay?"

Nat and Alex nodded again.

"Of course, Brendan," Nat said.

"Our lips are zipped," added Alex.

Brendan grinned. "Thanks, guys. Now, let's go have some fun tonight!"

With that, the four of them left the back room and got off the bus, walking into Nat and Alex's apartment building for a night of fun.


	3. Surprise Attack

"Hey, Brendan. How's Jack doing?" asked Nat, as he and the rest of the band finished rehearsing one of their songs.

It was late at night and the band was working on rehearsals in preparation for their upcoming tour. They were about to call it a night, but decided to take a break before running through two more of their songs.

When the song ended, Nat told everyone else to take a five-minute break.

"He's fine," Brendan replied, speaking through the microphone connected to the recording room, where the band was. Brendan was seated with Cooper in the sound control room and had been observing the band rehearse.

Nat and Alex walked into the sound room as Brendan talked. "He's a little nervous about the trial tomorrow, but I told him he's gonna do fine."

"Yeah, I think he will," Nat said, entering the sound room. "How are you doing, though?"

"I'm fine," Brendan replied as Nat and Alex sat on either side of him. "I'll be better when this is all over. It's a long time coming, and it's about time that Jack is getting some justice for what happened to him."

"Brendan, can I ask you something?" asked Alex.

"Of course."

"How come you never told us about Jack? I mean, why not at least mention him?"

Brendan grinned sadly. "Believe me, I wanted to. And I wanted to tell you the truth and not tell you that he was dead. But, I discovered it would be too hard to explain, even if I told you the lie I was forced to tell anyone about. It was bad enough having to tell my Mom that Jack was dead, even though I knew he wasn't, and I didn't think I could face telling you guys about him. I didn't want to put myself through that a lot of times, so that's why I never told you."

"But I'm glad you guys know now," he continued. "Even if it's just you guys who know the full story for now, that was still enough to lift some of the weight off of my chest. I wanna say thank you to guys for keeping Jack's secret safe. Even though I knew I could trust you both, I was still hesitant to tell you. I didn't want you to think badly of me."

"We don't think badly of you, Brendan!" Alex exclaimed.

"Yeah," added Nat. "We think it's pretty brave of you to have kept this big of a secret hidden for so long. You don't have to worry about us thinking badly of you. We don't forget that you've been there for us when we needed you the most."

Brendan grinned and nodded as Qaasim burst into the sound room, seemingly out of breath.

"Brendan!" Qaasim gasped.

"Qaasim, what is it?" Brendan asked with concern in his tone.

"It's Jack! I was just outside for a second to get some fresh air and I saw him being chased to the fence by a lot of men. I don't know how many there are, but you'd better go quick."

"Son of a bitch," Brendan whispered, quickly standing. "You guys stay here. I'll go take care of this. The rest of security is on headset, so they'll know if I need any help. Just promise me you'll stay here."

"We will," replied Nat, nodding. "Go help him."

Brendan nodded and ran from the sound room to the closest door that would take him outside. He almost broke the door down when he pushed through it. Once outside, he glanced around for any sign of Jack. Just to his right, and behind the fence that surrounded the recording studio, he could see six shadowy figures standing around. When he saw them, he heard a scream of pain that he recognized as Jack's. Brendan ran toward the figures.

When he was close enough, Brendan climbed onto a dumpster while one of the other figures grabbed Jack and held him up. Jack was injured badly enough that he couldn't stand up. One of the figures seemed to have noticed this, and was trying to call off his fellow attackers.

"Hey, leave him alone, man, he's had enough," he said.

"Shut up, Bobby!" the thug holding Jack shouted in reply.

"Look at him, Dutch, he can't even stand up!"

"So what!" called another thug.

"That don't mean squat!" Dutch called out.

Bobby shook his head angrily and walked over to a figure that appeared to be the leader. This man looked like he was getting ready to deliver a fatal blow to Jack.

"Johnny, leave him alone, man, he's had enough!" Bobby yelled.

"I'll decide when he's had enough, man!" Johnny cried.

"What is wrong with you, Johnny?"

"We've got a job to do, and I intend to finish it!"

Brendan reached the top of the dumpster and prepared to jump down and help Jack.

"You're crazy, man!" Bobby yelled.

Johnny ignored him and let out an animal-like scream and ran toward Jack and Dutch. At that moment, Brendan leapt down from the dumpster and pushed Jack out of Dutch's grasp. Dutch stumbled to the left, while Jack clumsily fell to the ground on the right. Brendan landed in front of two of the thugs. He noticed that all of them were dressed in black clothing and did not take care to hide their faces.

"Tommy, Bobby, get him!" Johnny ordered.

The two thugs in front of Brendan lunged to attack him. Before they could do anything, however, Brendan let out a battle cry and punched them both in the chest. He then elbowed Tommy while kicking Bobby in the face. The two tumbled to the ground. Brendan turned to the thug immediately to his right and quickly grabbed him on the shoulder and kicked him in the side. Brendan then turned around and back kicked the same thug, who fell over. Brendan then faced the two remaining thugs. The one called Dutch ran forward and aimed a kick at Brendan. Brendan grabbed Dutch's leg and kicked him in the groin twice. When Dutch collapsed, Brendan kicked him in the chest before facing Johnny. Johnny aimed a low punch, which Brendan lazily blocked, before throwing a right hook at Brendan' head, which Brendan blocked before with his left forearm before quickly grabbing Johnny with his other hand and spinning around, flipping Johnny over him. After throwing Johnny to the ground, Brendan karate chopped him in the chest

After quickly dispatching of each of the thugs, Brendan stood on his guard, looking around at each one of them, checking to see if they would get back up to the continue the fight. When he saw that none of them were about to get back up, he heard a soft moan behind him. He spun around and saw Jack lying on the ground, barely conscious. Brendan rushed to Jack and bent down next to him.

"Jack?" he said, touching his friend's face, worried that he had arrived too late. "Jack?" he said more desperately. Jack let out a small breath of air, which relieved Brendan. Brendan checked Jack's wrist and felt a strong pulse, telling him that Jack was merely unconscious and probably had the wind knocked out of him, giving how quietly he was breathing. He picked Jack up and kicked the lock of the fence, pushing it open and walking through it.

Brendan carried Jack's body back to the door he had burst though, and saw the rest of the band running down the hallway that lead to the door.

"Quick, call a paramedic!" he yelled at them.

"It's already done!" Cooper shouted back.

Brendan nodded at gently sat Jack back on the ground.

"Oh my god, what happened?" Rosalina screamed when they reached Brendan and Jack.

"He was attacked," Brendan replied quietly. "I got there just in the nick of time."

"Is he okay?" Nat asked.

"He's okay. He's just unconscious. I think they were about to kill him when I intervened."

"Are you all right, Brendan?" demanded Alex.

"I'll be fine," said Brendan before he briefly explained how he had disposed of each of the thugs.

"You did all of that in the time you left the sound room?" Qaasim asked, clearly impressed.

"Yeah I did. Like I told Jack, I still got it."

At that moment, Tuffy came running out the door with two paramedics. He pointed at Jack's unconscious body on the ground. The two paramedics, who had wheeled a stretcher with them, bent down next to Jack and were checking him.

"What happened?" asked the female paramedic.

"He was attacked physically by a group of five men. I managed to stop them before they could kill him," Brendan explained.

"How did you manage to do that?" the male paramedic asked as he and the other paramedic lifted Jack onto the stretcher.

"Let's just say they underestimated my abilities," Brendan replied shortly. "Listen, do you mind if I ride with?"

"Sure," the female replied as they started to wheel the stretcher back through the door.

Brendan turned to the rest of the band before following. "Listen guys, can you meet me there? I know it will be better if I have some people I know there, instead of just me. For Jack?"

"We'll be there, Brendan," Alex said.

"We'll take care of it," Nat added. "You just get to the hospital and make sure he's all right. We'll be there soon."

Brendan nodded. "Thanks, guys."


	4. Threat

"How is he?" Brendan asked the female paramedic, who introduced herself as Maureen.

The male paramedic, named Elliot, was driving them toward Mercy Hospital, traveling as fast as he could.

"His vitals are stable," replied Maureen. "It looks like he just lost consciousness. He's got marks all over his body. He's probably in a lot of pain. How did you manage to stop the attack?"

"I'm trained how to fight, if I need to. Will he be all right?"

"With rest and care, he should be good in no time."

Brendan nodded. "I'm gonna make a phone call," he said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. The dial tone rang a few times before a woman answered the phone.

"Detective Smith, Homicide," the woman said.

"Detective, this is Brendan Hopkins. I'm Jack Gray's friend."

"Of course, I remember you from when Jack called us a few years ago. Is something wrong? You sound flustered."

"Jack was just attacked, Detective."

"I'm sorry?" Olivia said in a skeptical tone.

"He was just attacked by five men. I think they must work for John Calvert, since they all seemed to know who they were attacking. One of them said they had orders to cause a lot of pain."

"Where did this happen Brendan?"

Brendan told her the name of the recording studio and mentioned that the perps were probably still there, since he had disabled them.

"Okay, Brendan, we'll have some officers get to the scene of the crime and my partner and I will meet you at the hospital. Which one are you heading to?"

"Mercy," Brendan replied.

"I know the place," said Olivia. "We'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Thank you, Detective," Brendan said, hanging up his phone.

"I don't mean to be nosy, but did you say John Calvert was somehow involved in this?" asked Maureen.

"Yes, I think he hired the people who attacked Jack. Why do you ask?"

"I thought he was in jail? It was all over the news that he's been arrested and might go free because two officers lied about someone being dead."

"Yeah, and my friend there is the one who they said was dead. It can't be a coincidence that he was attacked on the night before he was due to testify in court."

The ambulance came to a stop and Elliot got out of the driver's seat and ran to the back of the vehicle and threw open the back doors. He stepped into the back and helped Maureen pull the stretcher out of the ambulance. Brendan quickly followed them out as they started to wheel Jack into the hospital, where some nurses were waiting.

"What have we got?" one of them asked.

"Unconscious teenager, name of Jack Gray," explained Elliot. "He was attacked by some thugs before his friend here stopped them and had some friends call for us."

"Good work, young man," the nurse said.

Brendan nodded. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He looks okay and he'll probably have to stay here overnight, but it doesn't look like there are too many extensive injuries," the nurse explained. "Now, you'll have to stay in the waiting room until a doctor sees your friend."

At that moment, another nurse appeared out of an adjacent room.

"Is there a Brendan Hopkins with you?" she asked the group wheeling Jack's stretcher.

"I am," Brendan said, stepping forward. "Is something wrong?"

"The police are here from the Homicide Unit, and would like a quick word with you. Please follow me."

"Take care of him," Brendan called to the group. Maureen nodded at him before he turned and followed the nurse, who introduced herself as Mary. She was elderly and looked like she could pass as Qaasim's grandmother. Mary led him to the waiting room, where Brendan saw Detectives Smith and Owens waiting for him.

"Thank you, ma'am," said Olivia when Brendan reached them.

"Of course, Detective. Brendan, I will go check on your friend for you," she added kindly before walking away.

"Brendan, it's good to see you again, even under the circumstances," Olivia said.

"We just want to ask you a few questions," Chase added. "The officers we sent to the recording studio found the men who attacked Jack and arrested them on the spot. They looked pretty banged up, according to the officers. Can you tell us what happened?"

Brendan explained how he arrived in the nick of time to stop Jack from being killed by the ringleader and then fended off all of them single-handedly. When he finished explaining, the detectives nodded at him.

"So you assisting a third party in need of assistance from bodily harm," Chase said. "That's all we needed to hear. I'll call our DA and let her know that no charges will need to be filed against you for what happened."

Chase stepped away and pulled out his cell phone. While he was on the phone, Brendan and Olivia sat down, waiting to hear any news.

"It's lucky you got there when you did, Brendan," Olivia said. "Things could have been a lot worse had you not stopped them."

"Yeah, well if my friends hadn't decided to call a break at the time they did, I wouldn't have known."

At that moment, Brendan heard his name being called from the direction of the elevator. The band, along with Jesse and Sonny had arrived. He ran up to them and hugged them.

"How is he?" Rosalina asked.

"I haven't heard yet, but the nurse who took him said he should be fine. He'll probably have to stay here overnight, but should be okay otherwise."

"How are you doing?" asked Nat.

"I'm fine."

"Oh, come on, Brendan, you just kicked the heck out of five guys by yourself in about thirty seconds!" Thomas said excitedly.

"Yeah, don't you feel good about that?" added David.

"Guys," Nat said in an exasperated tone.

Brendan grinned. "No, it's okay. I can see what they mean. And to be honest, guys, I was surprised I was able to stop it so quickly. I don't think they were expecting to face someone who was able to put up a fight, which is why I managed to take all of them down so quickly."

Thomas, David and Qaasim all laughed and Brendan couldn't help grin with them.

"How soon were you guys able to leave the studio?" Brendan asked.

"We got a limo as soon as you left," Cooper said. "I called in a favor to a friend and he was able to get us one pretty fast. "

"We left as soon as the police arrived and we showed them where to find the bad guys," added Alex.

Brendan nodded as Mary returned to the waiting room and walked over to them.

"How is he, Mary?" Brendan asked.

"He'll be fine. I talked to the doctor and he told me there are no long-term injuries. We're gonna keep him here overnight, but he should be okay as long as he takes it easy."

"Thank you."

Mary nodded and left. Olivia and Chase approached them.

"How is he, Brendan?" asked Olivia.

"He should be fine. I think he'll be ready to testify tomorrow."

"Good, let's go find out," said Chase.

"Guys, can you give me a minute? I'm gonna go with them to see Jack. I'll be right back."

"Yeah, sure, Brendan. Go on," Nat said.

Brendan followed Olivia and Chase to Jack's room, which they got from a desk clerk. When they reached Jack's room, they found him sitting propped up on his bed, looking okay, but tired.

"Hi," Jack said in a weak voice.

"How are you doing?" Olivia asked in a soft tone.

"Sore. But I think it could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, it might have been had Brendan here not intervened."

"How did you know, Brendan?"

"The band took a break inside the studio," Brendan explained. "Qaasim stepped outside from some fresh air and heard you being attacked. He told me what was happening, so I ran outside and stopped them from killing you."

"Thank you," Jack whispered.

"You know you don't have to thank me for that. I was just protecting you."

Jack nodded. "I assume you think I was attacked by some of Calvert's men?" he said to the detectives.

"Why? Were you?" asked Chase.

"Yeah, that's who they were. They told me they had a message to give me from Calvert and then they started beating on me. I kinda blacked out while it was happening, so I don't remember much about the actual beating, but I remember them saying they had a message."

Chase nodded, pulled out his cell phone and stepped to the back of the room.

"And how many were there?" Olivia asked.

"I counted five. They were all men, dressed the exact same. I thought it was weird that they weren't wearing masks."

"They probably thought they'd be able to knock you unconscious fast and not be able to remember their faces."

"Well, they were right about the unconscious part," Jack said.

"Okay, we'll meet you there," Chase said from the back of the room. He hung his phone up and walked back to Jack's bedside.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

"I'm sorry, Jack, but we've gotta go. Casey wants to meet with Calvert and his attorney to discuss adding another charge after what's happened tonight. She wants Brendan to come with us."

Jack nodded. "It's okay, I understand."

Brendan patted him on the head. "Listen, the rest of the band is here. I'll tell them you're okay and they can stay with you til I get back? Will that be okay?"

"Of course," Jack said, grinning.

"I'll be back soon."

* * *

Half an hour later, Brendan followed Chase and Olivia through a prison. When they reached their destination, they Chase opened the door and bade them inside. Waiting for them was Casey Hoskinson, the assistant district attorney for Chase and Olivia's unit. She was a young Hispanic woman, whose face suggested a "no nonsense" attitude. She smiled at Brendan when he answered.

"So, you're the hero?" she asked as she motioned for him to sit down.

"I'm no hero. I just put a stop to a bad situation."

"Well, Calvert will probably be angry about what you did. Although, he doesn't know about it yet. But we'll let him know."

At that, another door opened and a man dressed in a suit, looking tired, walked into the room, followed by a middle-aged man Brendan recognized as John Calvert. When they sat down on the table opposite Brendan and Casey, the man in the suit addressed Casey."

"This had better be important, counselor," he said. "You called me and had me come down in the middle of the night. I don't know about you, but some people like to sleep during the night hours," he added, pointing to Casey's hair, which was perfectly groomed as if she had not done anything to it since that morning."

"Save the sarcastic comments for the trial, Lionel," Casey said. "Now, the reason I dragged you here is to let you know that we are adding another charge against your client."

"And what charge is that?" asked Lionel.

"Conspiracy to prevent a witness from testifying. Plus, numerous charges of assault."

"And how am I supposed to have assaulted anyone when I've been remanded here ever since my arraignment?"

"I didn't say you did. As attorney Bernstein will tell you, I can charge you with conspiracy and add on the assault charges when we prove that you conspired to physically assault a witness to prevent him from testifying."

"Where's the proof?" demanded Lionel. "You've given us no evidence to support your claim!"

"I won't have to," Casey retorted back. "The men who attacked the witness have already confessed to being hired by you, Calvert. We also have a statement from the witness, who said his attackers told him you had hired them to send a message."

Lionel and Calvert merely looked at Casey with blank expressions on their faces.

"What are you offering?" asked Lionel.

"Nothing."

"Then why are we here?"

"I wanted your client to know that his cronies failed to achieve their goal. You see before they could cause too much damage against the witness, young Brendan here put a stop to them. You underestimated Jack's friend, Calvert. You should have thought of that before you sent your men after him."

Calvert glared at Brendan, who looked back at him smugly.

"You're gonna be sorry you did that," Calvert declared in a dark voice.

"Lionel, I suggest you advise your client to keep his mouth shut," Casey warned.

"No, that's okay," said Brendan, speaking for the first time. He leaned forward and looked Calvert directly in the eyes. "Are you threatening me?" he asked.

Calvert merely glowered at Brendan.

"You think your guys are loyal? I took down five of them in about thirty seconds by myself," Brendan continued. "I've got a huge gang of friends much bigger than yours. Go ahead. Test my friends. I dare you."

"We're done here," Casey standing up. Brendan stood up with her, still glaring at Calvert before he turned and followed Chase and Olivia out of the room. When the door closed behind them, Chase and Olivia turned to Brendan.

"What was that?" Chase demanded.

"I just telling him how it is," Brendan replied calmly.

"You do realize who that is, don't you?" asked Casey.

"Yes. I'm fully aware who he is."

"Then you know what he's capable of," Olivia said.

"He won't try anything, especially now that the trial is here," Brendan said.

"How can you be sure of that?"

"Because he's smarter than that. If he were going to do anything to me, he would have done it already. Just like he did against Jack. Jack's attack was planned enough in advance in case he came back. I'm sure of it. Even if he didn't know Jack was still alive, he still would have wanted to make sure his men would take care of him if he was, and that's what he did."

The detectives and Casey looked back at Brendan, clearly impressed with his reasoning.

"He's right," Casey said after a few seconds. "Calvert won't and can't try anything. Since he's remanded, his visitor logs and phone calls are all monitored, so even if he does try anything, the prison will know about it in heartbeat."

"Still, I think you should have some police protection, Brendan. At least until this is over," Olivia said.

Brendan shook his head. "No. I don't want to live like that. I won't live in fear. He can't send me into hiding like he did with Jack. I can take care of myself. After all, I did single-handedly take down five of his men in a span of about thirty seconds. I'll be fine."

"Very well," Casey said, nodding. "Detectives, take Brendan back to the hospital and make sure Jack will be ready for testifying tomorrow. Call me when you know."

"We will," replied Olivia. "And get some sleep, counselor. You'll need it to kick Calvert's ass tomorrow in court."

Casey grinned and walked away. Brendan followed Chase and Olivia out of the prison and back to their car. They dropped him off in the hospital waiting room and spoke with Jack. When they were done, they bade Brendan good night and left him with the band in the waiting room.


	5. Revenge Attack

Brendan sat in his living room with the rest of the band, except for Nat, who had gone to use the bathroom. The trial against John Calvert had come to an end that day and he had been sentenced to life imprisonment.

"So, what's Jack gonna do now?" asked Cooper while they sat around talking.

"He's going back to Wisconsin to collect his things, and then he's gonna move back here," Brendan replied.

"That's great," Rosalina said. "It looks like it's all over."

"What about you, though?" Thomas asked.

"What about me?"

"Aren't you worried that some of Calvert's men will come after you, especially after what you did to his friends a month ago?"

Brendan grinned. "Even if his men do come after me, I was informed that only three members of his gang remained after the five I took care of were arrested."

Alex stood up and walked off in the direction of the bathroom, presumably to tell Nat to hurry up.

"So even if they do come after me," Brendan continued, "I don't think I'll have much to worry about. Unless of course they've got guns or something."

Everyone except Rosalina laughed.

"What Rosalina?" asked Brendan.

"Don't joke about that, Brendan. I don't want to see you get hurt by one of his men."

"Hey, look, I won't get hurt. If those men come after me and they are half as intelligent as his last cronies, I won't have any problem."

Rosalina smiled uneasily. They then found something on TV they could all enjoy and started watching. Two minutes later, Alex came running back into the room screaming.

"Alex! What is it?" demanded Brendan.

"Brendan! It's Nat. They've got him!"

"Who they? Got him?"

"I think it's Calvert's men. There are three of them out there, and one of them has Nat by some stick or something. He's in a chokehold, I think! The other two are destroying your garden!"

"Son of a bitch," Brendan snarled. He quickly stood up. "You guys stay here. Call the police. Have Lewis and Smith get over here now!"

"I'm going with you!" Alex exclaimed.

"No, Alex, you stay here," replied Brendan calmly. "I don't want any of you getting hurt. I'll go help Nat and when the police get here, they'll take it from here."

Alex quickly grabbed Brendan and pulled him into a hug.

"Be careful," Alex whispered to him.

"I will be."

Brendan then turned and ran to the back door of his house, which opened to the patio leading to his garden. He heard plants being smashed and quickened his pace. Right before he entered the garden, he heard someone speaking.

"This is your friend's fault! If he was a man of honor and didn't hurt our friends, you'd live! But he's not!"

At that, Brendan took a deep breath and centered himself before walking into the garden.

"Enough!" he shouted at them. Two men were on his left and his right. A third man, presumably the one who had just threatened to kill Nat, was holding Nat with a Bo staff by the throat. Nat seemed to be gasping for air.

"Calvert has a problem with me! Not with the boy!"

"You have a problem little boy," snarled the thug holding Nat, "with me!"

Brendan merely glared at the thug, ready to get the inevitable fight over with.

"Get him!" the Leader shouted.

The thug to Brendan's yelled something in response and walked over to Brendan. Brendan turned and slowly approached him as he came at Brendan at a run. Before the thug could do anything, Brendan calmly leaned down and to the left just as the thug reached him and punched him in the stomach. The thug let out a grunt as Brendan grabbed his back and pushed it forward while kneeing the thug in order to maximize the power of his attack. Brendan then threw the thug to the ground and turned his attention to the second thug. The Leader simply looked at Brendan, dumbfounded.

Brendan walked over to the second thug. Before the thug could attack him, Brendan kicked him in the stomach, which knocked off the thug's hat. Brendan then aimed a crescent kick with his right leg at the thug's head, where it hit. After that, Brendan backhanded the thug in the head with his left hand, which sent the thug flying a few feet across the garden before he fell to the ground with a thud.

Brendan next jumped to a vantage point in front of the Leader. Realizing he had no choice but to fight, the Leader released Nat from his grasp and pushed him toward Brendan, who caught Nat. While he was setting Nat on the ground, the Leader smacked Brendan on the side with the staff. Brendan grunted and turned to face his opponent, whose eyes were full of malice. He lunged at Brendan with the staff, and Brendan calmly grabbed it and kicked the Leader in the ribs. Brendan threw the staff down, cupped his hands together and brought them down on the Leader's back. Behind him, the first thug was quickly approaching him. Before the thug could do anything, Brendan kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the ground again. Brendan grabbed the second thug by the back of the head, who looked like he was trying to get up, and punched him in the face again. This momentary distraction allowed the Leader to grab the staff again and take a few steps back. Brendan returned his attention to the Leader and readied for the attack. The Leader lunged at Brendan's head with the staff. Brendan grabbed the staff before kicking the Leader in the stomach. He aimed another kick in the Leader's stomach, which knocked him to the ground. He then let out an animal cry and brought the staff to within an inch of the Leader's face. The Leader merely looked at him with fear, breathing fast from exhaustion. However, rather than attack the Leader with the staff, Brendan pulled it away from the Leader's face and snapped it on his knees.

"Act of a coward!" The Leader snarled.

Brendan half-nodded at his opponent before walking back to Nat. He bent down next to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Nat! Are you okay?" he whispered.

"He was really gonna kill me!" Nat replied in a petrified voice.

"I know. I know. It's over now."

Brendan helped Nat to his feet and was about to help him walk out of the garden when Nat's eyes widened.

"Brendan, look out!" he called as a warning. Brendan spun around before finding himself face-to-face with the barrel of a pistol the Leader was carrying.

"Come here!" the Leader spat, grabbing Brendan by the throat and turning him around to face Nat. The Leader held Brendan in a headlock, with the gun trained on his head.

"Nat, get out of here!" Brendan yelled, struggling with the Leader.

"You'll go nowhere!" the Leader shouted. Alex suddenly appeared next to Nat and tried to run at Brendan. Nat held him back. The rest of the band appeared behind them. "And don't try anything!" he added when he saw them.

"Guys, stay back," Brendan warned. "Just let me handle this."

"Handle this?" the Leader retorted. "You think you'll be able to get out of this with a gun on your head?"

"He might be able to, considering you've got a gun on your head," came a voice from behind them. The Leader whipped around with Brendan and came face-to-face with Detective Lewis, who had his own gun trained on the Leader's head.

"Ah, Detective Lewis, how nice of you to finally show up," Brendan said.

"Shut up!" The Leader shouted.

"Brendan, do as he says, or he'll kill you."

"If he was going to, he would have done it already. Now, where's your partner, Chase?"

"She's a bit preoccupied at the moment," Chase replied, raising an eyebrow.

"I see," said Brendan. "Surely you have backup on the way to take care of our friend here."

"Shut up!"

"Oh, why don't you shoot me and get on with it? Unless you don't have the guts?"

The Leader grinned. "Very well," he said, cocking his gun.

"Don't!" Chase shouted.

But before the Leader could do anything, he was hit in the head from behind by Olivia, which knocked him to the ground. Brendan stumbled away from the Leader as Olivia tackled him to the ground and put handcuffs on him. Chase lowered his gun and put it back in his holster.

"Are you all right?" Chase demanded of Brendan.

"I'm fine."

"You should have waited until we got here."

"And what, just let them kill one of my best friends?" Brendan asked sarcastically. "I had everything under control until he pulled the gun on me. In case you haven't noticed, I've already taken care of his partners," he added, nodding at the unconscious bodies of the other two thugs.

Brendan then turned and ran over to Nat and Alex. Alex was supporting Nat, who seemed unable to stand too well on his own. Brendan gently hugged Nat.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a soft voice.

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm okay, Brendan. Really." Nat said, smiling.

"What happened?"

"I heard them smashing things around out here and when I came out to investigate, the two thugs you took care of grabbed me. They eventually gave me to that leader guy and he kicked me around a bit before he held me with that staff."

"And you didn't come get me when you heard people in my garden?" Brendan asked, lightly punching Nat in the arm.

"I thought it was a coyote or something."

Brendan chuckled. "A coyote? In these parts? Not in this lifetime. Let's get you to the hospital.

With that, Brendan wrapped Nat's arm around his neck and helped him walk out of the garden to head to the hospital and recover.


	6. Epilogue

Jack exited the elevator and walked down the hallway, which was full of uniformed police officers walking up and down it, some merely chatting, others buried in paperwork they were carrying. When he reached the end of the hallway, a short distance from the elevator, he turned right and entered the squad room of the Homicide Unit.

Chase was sitting at his desk, working on paperwork. Olivia came up to him and greeted him.

"Jack, how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine," Jack replied shortly. "I heard Brendan was attacked last night by three people? They were Calvert's men?"

"Yes. He managed to subdue two of them before Chase and I arrived and took down the leader."

Jack nodded. "Where are they?"

"They're in our cage," Olivia replied, motioning for Jack to follow her. She led him over to one of the holding cells, where three men sat together, all looking rather annoyed with their situation.

When they were standing just outside the holding cell, Jack looked at the three men with contempt.

"So who are they?"

"This is Eddy Benitez," Olivia said, pointing to the man who was sitting on the ground. "He was taken down by Brendan first. The other on his right is Fred Baker, he was also defeated by Brendan quickly."

"And who's that?" Jack asked, pointing to the man standing in the back.

"He's Jimmy Skinner. He was the ringleader in the attack. Apparently he heard about the failed attack against you a few months ago and was angry about the result of the trial. He decided to punish someone close to you in retaliation."

"And he's the one who pulled the gun on Brendan?"

"Yes. But before he could do anything, Brendan kept him distracted long enough for me to sneak up behind them and subdue him."

Jack nodded and sighed.

"You okay?"

"I'm okay as I'll ever be. I just want to go home now."

Jack turned and walked back to the hallway leading to the elevator. Olivia followed him and talked with concern in her tone as they walked.

"You sure you're gonna be all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jack said in a not-too-convincing tone.

"Listen, you have our numbers. You give us a call if you need anything, okay?" Olivia said as they reached the elevator.

Jack didn't say anything, but just nodded and entered the elevator. Olivia turned around and walked back in the squadroom. She made her way back over to her desk, which was across from Chase's.

"How long until those idiots go to Central Booking?" she asked.

"Not soon enough," Jack replied, looking up from the paperwork he was working on.

Just as Olivia reached her desk, shots rang out. Olivia whirled around and saw Jack firing a pistol into the holding cell at the three thugs. Chase stood up from his desk, shock evident in his expression.

"Jack! Jack, stop!" Olivia shouted.

Jack ignored her and continued to fire into the holding cell. Realizing he would have to do something, Chase pushed his chair back and leapt behind his desk, opening his drawer and reaching in for his gun.

"No! Jack!" yelled Olivia.

Suddenly, Jack spun in their direction and fired a wild shot, which shattered the glass of the squad room supervisor. When Jack had turned to face him, Chase readied his gun and pointed it Jack.

"Jack! Jack, drop the gun! Drop the gun!" he screamed, aiming his gun at Jack.

Jack froze, his eyes widened in shock.

"Enough!" Chase shouted, keeping his gun trained on Jack. "Put the gun down."

Jack hesitated, looking as if he was considering dropping the gun.

"That's it. Just put it down."

Jack closed his eyes and bent down to put the gun down. At that moment, a laugh issued from the holding cell.

"You crazy bastard!" chided Eddy Benitez. "We should have went after you instead of that moron friend of yours!"

Jack's face contorted with rage. He raised the gun again, looking ready to shoot.

"Jack, no!" Chase cried.

Before he could pull the trigger, Jack hesitated when he heard a softer voice coming from behind him.

"Jack, don't do it," Olivia whispered in a calm voice. "It won't change anything that happened."

"Brendan will be avenged!"

"Brendan doesn't need to be avenged, Jack. Listen to me, please. Brendan wouldn't want you to do this just for him. He's fine, Jack. He took down two of these guys by himself and would have taken down Skinner had a gun not been pulled on him."

"Your friend should have thought of that before he came after us!" Benitez taunted.

"Benitez, keep your mouth shut, or I'll be the one who puts a bullet in your head!" Olivia shouted. Her tone quieted when she continued talking to Jack. "Jack, there's no reason for you to do this. I know how you must feel, being sick of dealing with Calvert and his men."

"You have no idea!" yelled Jack.

"I know, I know," Olivia replied calmly. "Then help me understand, Jack. All you have to do is drop the gun and we can end this peacefully."

"You can't fool me! I know your other officers will shoot me the second I try to do anything."

"No they won't, Jack. Look around. When you started shooting, everyone jumped to the ground. Nobody except for Chase went for their weapon; they were in too much shock."

"Exactly, one shot will be enough to kill me!"

"Chase won't shoot you if you drop the gun. I promise you that, Jack. The second you drop the gun, Chase will put his away and we can end this peacefully."

"You're gonna have to arrest me, aren't you?"

Olivia sighed. "Eventually, yes. But before I do, I just want to talk with you. Just put down the gun and I will bring you into one of the interrogation rooms to talk. Please, Jack. Just put the gun down."

"Can I talk to Brendan?"

"Soon, you will be able to. I promise you, Jack. I'll get him down here as soon as possible."

Jack took a deep breath before bending down and putting the gun down. He kicked it away from him and held his arms up in surrender. Olivia cautiously walked up to him and patted him down, making sure he didn't have any other weapons. Meanwhile, Chase walked over to the gun, took out a latex glove from his pocket and picked it up. When Olivia made sure Jack didn't have any other weapons, she nodded at him to put his arms down and put her hand on his back, leading him to one of the interrogation rooms.

**To Be Continued…**


End file.
